Jonatan Silva

I began practicing yoga over ten years ago. I quickly fell in love with the feeling I had after completing a class, the sense of accomplishment, the stillness. It all felt amazing. At the time, I had a very busy and consuming career in finance, a lifestyle in which making money, working hard and having things were valued highest; yoga, then, was something I enjoyed doing when I found free time and was not my priority.

It wasn’t until many years later that my choices would come to show me what was truly important. I fell ill due to high levels of stress, which I’d accumulated in both my personal life and my banking career. I decided to make a change and include yoga as part of my everyday life, and I began a committed daily practice. Shortly afterwards I began noticing differences in myself, both physical and mental. My colleagues, family and friends also observed that I was more calm and relaxed, I no longer went through that state of panic at having to finish projects, meet deadlines, make sales goals, etc. Nothing external had changed either in my personal life or career, I simply saw and felt things differently. Even my doctor measured a dramatic improvement in my overall health. I knew then that yoga was the right path for me, and a life-long practice to pursue!

Yoga had given me the tools necessary to understand what was truly important in my life, and I was then compelled to pass on this gift to others. I completed two Teacher Training courses in the United States and began teaching family and friends, and gave free classes to anyone who was interested. I volunteered as much as I could, and the more I taught the better I felt and the easier life became. However, there was a problem. My successful banking career no longer felt right to me, since I was involved in a business where increasing financial gain for my clients and myself was the mark of a successful career, the goal always being MORE. Focusing on making money did not provide any deep or lasting happiness for myself or for the people I helped. A cliché perhaps, but money truly cannot buy happiness.

So after eighteen years in banking I decided to let go completely and trust in the yogic principles I now held dearly: giving and sharing, loving and living. The next decision came easily to me. I resigned from my job and travelled to India in order to further my yoga education. Soon after arriving in India and taking an additional 500 hours of yoga training I realized how my background banking had benefited me, beyond monetary numbers: the skills and knowlegde I built from the formal management training I received over the years, from presenting and teaching how to present complex ideas, from public speaking, from managing a team, and from teaching finance could all be implemented into my yoga teaching. All I had learnt and done in the past came together into a wonderful new objective. Under the supervision of my yoga masters I began teaching Teacher Training and workshops at a reputable school in Rishikesh, India.

My journey has taken me to many places, allowing me to teach, to share and to give all I love! It has not been easy, yet I am grateful for every message and experience from my travels that have helped lead me to the healing arts and to a deeper understanding of human anatomy and movement integration. I am happy to say that I am Yoga Alliance ERY200, 500 registered, a Bodyworker Certified Advanced Practitioner, a Certified Thai Massage Advanced Practitioner and Teacher Trainer, and a Reiki master.

My purpose is simple and my path is clear: to continue through life giving as much as I can and not holding back, to share all the knowledge I have gained for the enrichment of others. I have no restrictions or secrets! If I learned something that has proven valuable to me, I simply pass it along with the hope that it can aid others as it has me. Give and live with love!